Letter of the month: June 2006

I am a 20 year old male who has been interested in joining the
Masonic fraternity for quite a few years now. I met a friend at
university whose father is a mason and therefore he was admitted at an
earlier age. He has introduced me to his brothers and taken me to a few
pre-meeting dinners, a custom shared in his lodge to those prospective
candidates and special guests including the wives of masons on
occasions.

I recently discovered that my grandfather was an active mason for
over 20 years. I'm just wondering if that classifies me as a Lewis or
does it mean that I am just his grandson, and my dad is a Lewis? I'm
just wondering because my birthday falls in April, meaning I wouldn't be
able to even luckily receive my first degree until May and by that
point, the summer break in meetings would start soon after. Anyway I
will be glad whatever the response is, seeing as any discussion on this
group of great men makes me a little more excited about joining.

In stone-masonry, a lewis is
a device to assist the lifting into place of a prepared fitted stone.
In Masonry it is a son of a Mason who, by becoming a Mason a few years
early, assists in the support of his father. If you were living with
your grandfather, and assisting him in life, then a lodge might consider
you a lewis. That doesn't seem to be your situation.

You make some assumptions about the pace of degrees and the
desirability of speeding through them. Where do you live? You don't
give a clue. In your country, or state, what is the minimum age to join
a lodge? Are you sure it's 21? Did the lodge brothers tell you so?
Here in Massachusetts, for instance, the minimum age was recently
lowered to 18.

Even if you applied after becoming of legal age (probably 21 in most
jurisdictions) your lodge might not vote on you until after a month or
two -- there has to be an investigation of course. And then your lodge
might have other plans for their April and May meetings, and might not
even initiate a new Entered Apprentice until fall. And if you were
initiated as an EA in April or May, there's nothing wrong with having
the entire summer to learn you candidate material, learn more about
Masonry, and begin to learn to apply the lessons you received. Many
lodges in Europe, for example, require their candidates to wait at least
a year between degrees, and often, to prepare a presentation on some
assigned topic. Instead of treating the 3 degrees as a race to get
through as quickly as possible, they extend the candidate experience for
2 or 3 years. And those lodges have very dedicated knowledgeable
members with a deep committment and profound understanding of
Masonry.

You can ask your Mason friend how often the lodge holds degree
ceremonies, and verify that their minimum age is 21. If you have to
wait, it's not so bad. You might be able to apply in the meantime, and
begin the investigation, so that you can have that taken care of before
your 21st birthday. And then, once you are 21, you can be formally
proposed and balloted, and progress according to the lodge's
schedule.

Finally, learning patience and self-restraint is a major part of the
lessons of the 1st degree, so you can begin your work on that issue now,
while waiting for your birthday to arrive.

best wishes,

-- Gary L. Dryfoos
A Page About Freemasonry
now at http://MasonryPage.org/